BY MICHAEL GOODPASTER
Military movies aren’t my thing. I can appreciate a good story and I’ll always be thankful for real life people defending my country, but the genre of film is never one I seek out. I recently had a conversation where I had to list my favorite military movies. Me being me, I instantly said “Stripes”. It’s a comedy and it doesn’t jar me too much. Movies like “Apocalypse Now”, “Platoon”, and “Full Metal Jacket” are undeniable but they’re not movies that make me smile or want to rewatch. In a perfect world we’d not have wars and these movies would be more science fiction than actual reality. I don’t want to see a young guy shoot at other young guys who are only there because of the pride they have in their country. Right or wrong, that pride is there. I don’t want to watch a movie to think about the sacrifices and horrors these people go through. I don’t want to think about the family and friends they left at home to be there. I watch and read the news and I have family and friends who have served. Me not watching isn’t me avoiding it, it’s me not belittling the REAL people who do this. I know a lot of movies are “based on a true story”, but even those are over glamourized and written to spotlight a certain side. That said, “Lone Survivor” is “based on a true story”. And all the same, it’s one of the only movies I’ve watched more than once in the past six months to a year. It’s an engaging and gripping story of a troop of bad asses who find themselves in a horrible situation. They are fighters, warriors, machines, and brothers. They do what they have to do. I don’t want to get too deep into the plot because I think it should be seen. It’s a movie that leaves you on the edge of your seat and on the cusp of emotional outbursts. The chemistry of the men who were involved in the story is greatly highlighted by awesome acting by Mark Wahlberg, Taylor Kitsch, Emile Hirsch, and Ben Foster. They are all fantastic actors, but you lose that train of thought almost instantly because you’re thrown into their world and soon find yourself fighting with them. Wahlberg did a great job, but I give most of the credit to Peter Berg. He has made some movies that I love and has made some movies that I don’t care for, but I can never not say that he doesn’t go balls out in every project I’ve seen. His passion for these movies shines through every time. This movie is a great example of that. The title of the movie is a spoiler and it’s easy to be a pretentious dick, nit-pick, and brush it all off. Peter Berg is more than a film maker, he’s an “experience sharer”. Military movies are just about at the bottom of my list of things to watch, but I’ll be damned if I didn’t find myself enthralled and captivated. Berg did the men justice and gave us a much underappreciated movie. It’s A LOT of action, A LOT of emotion, and A LOT of heart. I liked it… A LOT. A-
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